US744032A - Process of manufacturing steel. - Google Patents

Description

No. 744,032. PATENTED N0V. 17, 1903 I w. B. BRO-GKPIBLD. rnoosss OF MANUFACTURING STEEL.

APPLIGATIQN FILED JAN. 14, 1903.

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apparatus for carrying out my process.

- UNITED STATES:

Patented November 17, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING STEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 744,032, dated November 17, 1903. Application filed January 14, 1903- Serial No. 139,009. (No specimens.)

This invention has for its object a process of producing steel known commercially as crucible-steel which is particularly practical andcauses the product to be especially uniform in hardness and character; and to this end the invention consists in the manner of treatment hereinafter specifically pointed out and claimed.

In describing this invention reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like, characters refer to corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a sectional view, partly in elevation, of the greater portion of one form of- Figs.

7 2 and 3 are sectional views, respectively, of

one of the crucibles and a crucible-furnace forming part of said apparatus.

Crucible-steel, and particularly self-hardening steel, is produced in a plurality of crucibles of relatively small capacity, for the reason that it has not heretofore been possible to manufacture this steel in bulk owing to the mechanical difficulties experienced in forming the same into finished bars and plates. In the commercial manufacture of such steel the component ingredients are inserted into the respective crucibles and are subsequently fused, and the fused mixtures are cast into ingots which are rolled or otherwise manipulated for forming finished bars or plates. Owing to the insertion of the ingredients composing the steel into a number of different crucibles of relatively small capacity there is obviously more or less variation in the charactor of the steel produced from the mixtures fused in the respective crucibles. One of the ingredients inserted into the crucibles for forming steel in this manner is tungsten, and,

' as is obvious to those skilled in the art, the

tungsten raises the fusing-point of the mixtures, does not readily and uniformly unite with the iron, and unites to a greater or less extent with the carbon of the crucibles or melting-pots, thus materially lessening the lifetime of the crucibles.

By my invention crucible-steel, and particularly self-hardening steel, is produced in a novel manner, as follows: Iron, tungsten, and chromium are melted together in bulk in a suitable furnace,as an open-hearth furnace 1, Fig. 1, and are thus refined, mixed, and united to a maximum degree. I usually first fuse the iron in the furnacel and then add the tungsten and chromium and subject the entire mass to heat in said furnace until the metals are thoroughly mixed together.- The iron, tungsten, and chromium mixture is reduced to a subdivided or fragmentary condition in any desired manner. In the illustrated apparatus for carrying out my process said mixture is conducted from the furnace 1 through a trough 2 into a ladle 3 and while molten is dropped from said ladle into a body of water or other liquid in a receptacle 4, whereupon thecompound readily separates into substantially spherical bodies of relatively small size,'which are quickly cooled in the water, are uniform in hardness and character, and are easily handled and fused. It will be understood that the furnacel or the trough 2 is provided with suitable means for controlling or preventing the flow of the molten metal from the furnace through the trough. Said broken-up or subdivided iron, tungsten, and chromium compound is then filled into crucibles 5 and fused in a cruciblefurnace 6 and when fused or melted is cast into ingots, which are subsequently rolled or otherwise manipulated for forming finished bars or plates.

a In following out this process I preferably use the iron, tungsten, and chromium in the fol-.

lowing proportions, by weight: iron, ninety-- four to sixty parts; tungsten, five to twentyfive parts; chromium, one to fifteen parts.

The length of time during which the iron, tungsten, and chromium are heated in the furnace may be from one to twelve hours, and the length of time during which the fragmentary product is heated in the crucibles may be from one to six hours.

To those skilled in the art it will be under stood that the proportions'of iron, tungsten, and chromium and the length of time during which the same are subjected to heat are dependent more or less upon the grade of the materials and that a small amount of silicon,

usually less than two per cent., is present in the final product. It will also be understood that instead of iron a good grade of soft steel may be nsed.,

It will be particularly noted that by producin g steel as described the materials are refined by the fusing and heating in the openhearth furnace and are thoroughly mixed, even though the steel is low in carbon, that the uniting of the iron with the tungsten and chromium in the open-hearth furnace reduces to a minimum the liability of the combination of the tungsten with the carbon of the crucibles and the resultant disintegration and destruction of the crucibles, and that the entire process greatly facilitates the production of afinished product of maximum uniformity in hardness and character and themanufacture of finished bars or plates which are free from defects, as seams, &c.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 1 1. The herein-described process of prod noing steel, the same consisting in fusing iron, tungsten, and chromium in bulk together, reducing the resultant product to a subdivided or fragmentary condition, and then fusing said reduced product in crucibles, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The herein-described process of producing steel, the same consisting in fusing from ninety-four to sixty parts by weight of iron with from five to twenty-five parts of tungsten and from one'to fifteen parts of chromium, reducing the resultant product to a subdivided or fragmentary condition, and then fusing said reduced product in crucibles, sub stantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, this 10th day of January, 1903.

WILLIAM BERTIN BROOKFIELD. WVitnesses:

S. DAVIS, D. LAVINE.

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